Activate, the leading management consulting firm for media, technology, entertainment, and sports businesses, recently released the Activate Technology and Media Outlook 2020, a comprehensive annual report on the state of the Internet, technology, media, and entertainment industries. The report is based on groundbreaking proprietary research.
In their sixth report, Activate focused on topics such as the next era of social networking, digital marketplace models disrupting industries, Super Users, the networked body, and more. 2020 promises to be a pivotal year for everyone in the dynamic tech and media ecosystem.
“This year, we decided to not only focus this Outlook on the year ahead, but also to take a look back at previous predictions and how they shaped the latest and greatest trends, including the boom in AI, betting, and gaming,” said Michael J. Wolf, Activate CEO and Co-Founder. “The forecasts shared will profoundly impact technology and media industries as we approach 2020 and beyond.”
Super Users: The Imperative for Technology & Media Companies
Activate has identified ‘Super Users’ as those who spend a disproportionately high share of time, spend, fandom and social amplification across all activities, including video, gaming, music, podcasts, and ecommerce purchases. They represent 23 percent of the population. The key challenge for technology and media companies will be identifying and targeting Super Users, and creating experiences to reach them and capture their time and spend.
Social Splinter: The Social Media World Expands
It’s no longer one size fits all. A great deal of time and attention that people are spending on social media is going to shift to smaller networks. Time spent on all of the major social networks is increasing, but it’s growing much faster on networks such as LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Twitter than it is on Facebook. As people seek more focused, authentic, and trusted connections, they will find multiple networks tailored to the things they care about most, whether it be gaming, knitting, or cannabis. By 2023, Activate forecasts that the average user in the U.S. will use over 10 networks, up from nearly 6 today.
Ecommerce: Shrinking the Divide Between Physical & Digital Shopping
Ecommerce will continue to fuel global retail growth, nearly doubling to reach over $6T by 2023. The forces propelling this growth will include faster and broader delivery options, major social media platforms functioning as digital storefronts, and renting and resale. Winners in ecommerce will shrink the divide between digital and physical across the consumer journey.
Digital Marketplaces: New Inventory, Price, Transparency, Ease of Use
Digital marketplaces are continuing to change how services are transacted, and there is tremendous growth ahead. Online service marketplaces, driven by apps such as Airbnb, Uber, DoorDash, and Upwork, will grow much faster than their overall industries and will create entirely new inventory. Younger consumers will drive the shift. Once marketplace users start using a marketplace in one vertical, they continue to use them in others as well, leading to exponential growth for adoption of digital marketplaces.
Video Gaming: The Next Streaming Battlefront
Video gaming will continue to be one of the largest and fastest growing global media segments, reaching over $170B by 2023 — as large as the music industry, film industry, and subscription video market combined. The future of gaming will be cloud gaming and streaming, through which gamers can finally play together on a global scale across all devices: mobile, PC, and console.
Esports: Sports of the Future
Esports is here to stay. Esports will soon rival major traditional sports in the U.S. in both audience size and revenue, which is expected to approach $7B globally by 2023.
Sports Betting: The Next Big Financial Trading Market
The amount wagered on sports in the U.S. will grow from $13B to $149B by 2023. Wagering on sports will begin to take the shape of financial trading markets, with an infinite number of possible wagers extending well beyond the outcome of a game. When fully legalized, institutional investors will participate in the sports betting market and employ sophisticated data sets and AI to gain an edge.
Networked Body: Quantified & Connected Human
New consumer-facing digital solutions will revolutionize how we track, manage, and improve our physical health and fitness. Increasing interest in wellness will fuel the growth of this sector, which will become a $16B U.S. market by 2023.
Digital Consumer Finance: Next Generation Services Go Mainstream
Digital-first consumer financial services, such as online bank Revolut, insurer Lemonade, and lender Affirm, will give traditional finance companies a literal run for their money. This will be one of the highest growth segments in technology as it continues to attract significant interest from the investor community.
To see the full report, you can visit www.slideshare.net